Sunday, May 23, 2010

"I'm a Mac. And I'm a PC." This award-winning line, voiced by Justin Long and John Hodgman, has become a symbol of Apple's surge in the computer market. We can all quickly identify these seven words as the starter for Apple's series of witty ads, each finding a different way to show the PC up. But unfortunately, today, Apple made it official that this campaign would be discontinued, removing the ads from their website.However, with the success that Apple has found with TV advertising, I would expect a new line of spots to air in the very near future. But how will they retain the same effectiveness?

Keeping it Fresh

Obviously, Apple must be able to come up with strong new content. But that's not the big issue, especially with the team of brilliant minds working on their advertising.These days, television has essentially lost its ability to persuade people to buy things. It's now more about showing people that a product exists, basically publicizing it. However, Apple has plenty of publicity so really, what they want to do with advertising, is maintain their brand.In the "Get a Mac" spots, they were able to effectively portray Mac's brand as a cool, youthful product for the quirky, artistic consumer. They achieved this by fascinating, amusing, and amazing the viewers.Now, how will Apple replicate the success of "Get a Mac" without duplicating the same idea? In other words, how will they project their brand again, in another clever way?

Which products?

Do they want to continue to advertise the Mac heavily, or do they want to focus on other products such as the iPad?Also, part of keeping it fresh is to avoid over-promotion; if Apple were to heavily advertise each of their products, they would lose their novelty and intrigue, two key components in the campaigns.Personally, I think that they need the TV to help promote the two products they have entered into the most competitive markets, the iPhone and the Mac, for smart-phones and computers respectively. The iPad is a relatively new product, but it's entered into the much smaller market of tablets, and has already gained huge publicity. I'm not saying that the iPhone and Mac haven't gotten their fair share of publicity, but what I'm saying is that they need even more.

Will they shift their resources?

TV advertising is gradually moving out of the picture, as online presence and public relations become the two big things. Being the innovative, cutting-edge company that they are, Apple can opt to change their focus a bit. I wouldn't doubt that they will continue to air TV ads but how many they will air, is one thing they have to consider.Is it still a good idea to allocate as much resources as they are currently, to TV advertising, while the internet is just as good, if not a better tool for furthering their brand?

In the end, there really isn't a way to be sure of what the geniuses at Apple will do next. But hey, we can always try.

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This blog will showcase the many useful websites, software and gadgets that I come across every day. But no, I vow not to ramble on about RAM or megapixels, both of which I barely know a thing about. This is the tech blog for the rest of us. By that I mean, the non-geeks.